WHO WE ARE

We are a dreamers, builders, and innovators.

We overcome adversity. We break down barriers.

We are Kofi Atta Annan, Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations. We are Shirley Ann Jackson, former Chairman of U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the eighteenth president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. We are John W. Thompson, former CEO of Symantec, Chairman of Microsoft and CEO of Virtual Instruments. We are Ronald McNair, physicist and pioneering NASA astronaut on the Space Shuttle Challenger.

We are Frank Jones, the first Black tenured professor at MIT, and Carol Espy-Wilson, the first Black woman to receive a PhD at MIT in Electrical Engineering. We are Phillip Clay, the first Black academic department head at MIT, and Chiquita V. White, MIT Alumni Association President. We are Sylvester James Gates, Jr., winner of the 2012 National Medal of Science Award from President Barack Obama, and Robert R. Taylor, the 38th addition to the postal service's Black Heritage series.

We are the MIT Gospel Choir, the Black Students Union, the MIghTy NSBE Chapter, the Black Women's Alliance, New House 2 and Chocolate City. We are the Rho Nu Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha, Fraternity, Inc., the Xi Tau Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc, the Theta Iota Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., the Gamma Chapter of Omega Psi Phi, Inc., and both the Lambda Upsilon Chapter and Epsilon Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.

We are the MIT Coalitions Against Apartheid, the Office of Minority Education, the Office of Engineering Outreach Programs, and the MLK Visiting Scholars. We are Engineers at Facebook, Designers at Walker & Company, Professors at George Washington University Law School, Researchers at Stanford University, Advocates at Dev Color, and Leaders at the National Society of Black Engineers.

We are the past. We are the future. We are MIT. We are you. Together, we are one. And this, this too is the uplifting and evolving story of America's beautiful Black history.

HOW TO Get involved

Ally.

Become an Ally by joining our newsletter, reading our digital publication and getting plugged into the conversation. We seek to inspire, motivate, and unite all people to work for positive social change.

Member.

WHY GET INVOLVED

We will not wait for some other person or some other time.

Each day the news media provides us with more and more unanswered questions about the future of America. We believe that the answers lie in our minds and in our hands. Now is the time to stand together as a community, explore the roots of our greatest challenges, and work together to devise innovative solutions. Now is the time to educate our communities, uplift and mentor our youth, and pave the way for the next generation. Now is the time for us to unite.

We must stand in the gap. We are the change we seek. We need you to join our movement.

What I tell my students is that you here at MIT have access to great knowledge…more knowledge than 99.9 percent of people who have ever been on planet Earth, and I think you have some sort of moral duty to learn how to communicate that. 